2016 Contest

The theme for the 2016 LSSU High School Short Story Prize was alt-historyshort stories. Teachers and students looking for advice on reading alt-history short stories as writers and ideas for brainstorming and pre-writing alt-history short stories are encouraged to download our below contest lesson plan.

WHAT IS ALTERNATE HISTORY?

For the purposes of this contest, alt-history short stories were defined as stories that speculate how the world would be different if the past were altered. In other words, we were looking for stories that explore some “what-if” scenario about history. For example, what if the Axis had won World War II? What if a woman had been elected president in 1976? What if Martin Luther King, Jr., hadn’t been assassinated? What if first contact between Europeans and indigenous American peoples went differently? Any scenario is fair game, as long as it asks how things would be different if the past were changed. Stories could be historical fiction set in the past, which explore how the change to the timeline might have happened. They could be literary fiction looking at how the present-day would be different as a result of the change. Or they could be science fiction that imagines what the future would become as a result of the change. One well-known example is The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, the 1963 Hugo-winning novel recently adapted for television, which explores what the U.S. would have been like 20 years later if the Axis had won World War II. Check out the links below for classic and award-winning alt-history short story examples we recommend.

READING RECOMMENDATIONS

“A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury is a classic sci-fi, alt-history, and time travel short story that was originally published in 1952 in Collier’s. Set in both 2055 and prehistoric times, the story explores how time travel to the distant past might affect the future, showing the “butterfly effect” in action.

“The Long Haul” by Ken Liu is an award-winning alternate history short story set in a world where the Hindenburg disaster never happened and airships fill the skies. In the story, a magazine writer accompanies a husband-wife team flying their cargo zeppelin from central China to Las Vegas. It is both an adventure tale and a moving portrait of a marriage. Originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine (November 2014), republished in translation on the World Chinese Science Fiction Association website. Winner: 2014 Sidewise Award for best short-form alternate history. (Check out our recent interview with the author!)

“Recovering Apollo 8” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning alternate history story originally published in 2008 in Asimov’s Science Fiction. The story diverges from the original historical timeline in 1968, exploring what would happen if the Apollo 8 mission to orbit the Moon was lost. (2007 Sidewise Award for best short-form alternate history. Nominee: 2008 Hugo for best novella)

Speculative art may inspire you to think creatively about how you alter history.

Artist Matthew Buchholz’s website, Alternatehistories.com, offers a wealth of strange and inspiring images that insert monsters into the past.

CONTEST LESSON PLAN

Teachers may be interested in our sample lesson plan, which includes an activity in which students read an alternate history short story as writers and ideas for brainstorming and pre-writing (updated 2/26 with additional research resources and 3/15 with an additional alt-history short story model!).

2016 CONTEST RESULTS

Congratulations to the winner, runners-up, finalists, and semifinalists!

Border Crossing is an annual literary and arts journal published online by the Lake Superior State University Creative Writing Program. Uniquely situated on the border of America and Canada, we're committed to publishing the best work submitted by emerging and established writers on both sides of the border, as well as to supporting the literary arts in the Midwest and Ontario. We're especially interested in writing that crosses boundaries in genre or geography, and voices that aren't often heard in mainstream publications. The best way to see what we mean by this is to read our latest issue. Learn more at bcrossing.org/about-us/.